The American Who Broke a World Record and Lost

With an unprecedented 45.94-second run, defending world champion Karsten Warholm took the gold medal, leaving Benjamin to settle for silver and wonder what more in the world he could have possibly done.

“If you would have told me I would run 46.1 and lose, I would probably beat you up. I’d tell you to get out of my room,” said Benjamin, 24. “This was probably the best race in Olympic history. I don’t even think Usain Bolt’s (9.58-second 100 meters) topped that.”

By the home straight, Warholm and Benjamin seemed on different planets from the rest of the competition. But Warholm’s came with a little less gravity. He put a two-stride gap behind him and crossed the line in wide-eyed disbelief. Once he saw his time, the first-ever recorded under 46 seconds, he ripped open his singlet, Superman-style, to reveal his pale Scandinavian chest.

“It’s so crazy,” said Warholm, 25. “It’s by far the biggest moment of my life.”

The conditions here could hardly have been more ripe for a world-record run—or two. In the kind of heat that sprinters adore, Warholm and Benjamin were both wearing the Nike track spikes that are revolutionizing the sport. The soles are built with a rigid plate and superlight, energy-returning foam. And with every stride on Tuesday, the so-called “super spikes” dug into an Olympic track that runners in Tokyo are calling unusually springy.

“It is really soft—it does have a lot of give,” Benjamin said. “Don’t get me wrong, it is a phenomenal track, but people will say, ‘It’s the track, it’s the shoes.’ I’ll wear different shoes and still run fast. It doesn’t really matter.

“No one in history is going to go out and do what we just did now, ever.  I don’t care who you are. Could be Kevin Young, Edwin Moses—all respect to those guys, but they cannot run what we just ran just now. I am getting goosebumps just talking about it.”

The Warholm-Benjamin one-two was a repeat of what happened at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, two years ago. The difference on that day was that both were roughly half a second slower than they were in Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.“The kid’s amazing. You can’t be mad at that at all,” Benjamin said. “As a competitor it hurts a lot, but that’s just the nature of the sport.”

Write to Joshua Robinson at Joshua.Robinson@wsj.com